Original Text
There was a scholar named An Dacheng, a native of Chongqing. His father, a provincial graduate, had long passed away, and his younger brother An Ercheng was still a child. Dacheng married a woman named Chen, whose childhood name was Shanhu, and she was naturally virtuous and gentle. However, Dacheng's mother, Shen, was fierce and unreasonable, lacking maternal kindness, and she subjected Shanhu to all manner of abuse, yet Shanhu never uttered a word of complaint. Every morning, she would rise early, dress neatly and properly, and pay her respects to her mother-in-law. Once, when Dacheng fell ill, Shen claimed it was because his wife spent all her time in lavish adornment, seducing her husband, and she reviled and scolded Shanhu. When Shanhu returned to her room, removed her ornaments, and came back to see her mother-in-law, Shen grew even more enraged, banging her head against the wall and slapping her own face. Dacheng, always filial, took a whip and beat his wife, which only then slightly calmed Shen. From then on, she hated her daughter-in-law even more. Though Shanhu served her with utmost care and caution, Shen never spoke a single word to her. Knowing his mother's anger, Dacheng moved to another room, signaling a break with his wife. After a long time, Shen remained displeased, constantly cursing Shanhu in veiled terms. Dacheng said, "A wife is taken to serve her parents-in-law; if it has come to this, what use is a wife?" So he divorced Shanhu and sent an old woman to escort her home. Shortly after leaving the house, Shanhu wept and said, "As a woman, to fail as a daughter-in-law—how can I face my parents? Better to die!" She drew a pair of scissors from her sleeve and stabbed at her throat. The old woman hurried to stop her, but blood had already soaked her collar, and she supported Shanhu to the home of Dacheng's aunt. The aunt, née Wang, had long been a widow living alone, and she took Shanhu in.
When the old woman returned to the An household, Dacheng instructed her to conceal the truth, but in his heart he secretly feared that his mother would learn of the matter. After a few days, he inquired and learned that Shanhu's wound had gradually healed, so he went to Lady Wang's home and demanded that she not keep Shanhu. Lady Wang invited Dacheng to enter, but he refused, standing outside and angrily insisting that Shanhu be driven away. Before long, Lady Wang led Shanhu out to meet Dacheng and asked, "What crime has Shanhu committed?" Dacheng accused her of being unable to serve her mother-in-law. Shanhu remained silent, only lowering her head and sobbing softly, her tears tinged with red, staining her white garments. Seeing this, Dacheng felt a pang of sorrow in his heart and left before finishing his words. A few days later, Lady Shen heard that Shanhu was staying at Lady Wang's home and stormed over in a rage, hurling abusive words and mocking Lady Wang. Lady Wang, being proud by nature, refused to yield and instead enumerated Lady Shen's misdeeds, saying, "Your daughter-in-law has already been driven out by you; what relation is she still to the An family? I am keeping Chen's daughter, not your An family's daughter-in-law. Why trouble yourself to meddle in others' affairs?" Lady Shen was furious but found herself at a loss for words, and seeing Lady Wang's fierce demeanor, she felt both ashamed and disheartened, returning home in tears. Shanhu grew deeply uneasy and wished to move elsewhere. It happened that Dacheng had an aunt, Old Madam Yu, who was Lady Shen's elder sister. She was over sixty years old, her son had died, leaving only a young grandson and a widowed daughter-in-law, and she had always been kind to Shanhu. Shanhu took her leave of Lady Wang and went to seek refuge with Old Madam Yu. Old Madam Yu, upon learning the situation, reproached her younger sister for being foolish and cruel and wanted to send Shanhu back to the An household immediately. Shanhu earnestly dissuaded her, urging her not to reveal the matter, and so she stayed with Old Madam Yu, living together like a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Shanhu had two elder brothers, who, upon hearing of this, sympathized with their sister and wished to take her back and remarry her. Shanhu resolutely refused, choosing instead to remain with Old Madam Yu, spinning and weaving to make a living.
After Dacheng divorced his wife, Shenshi tried every means to arrange a new marriage for him, but her fierce reputation spread far and wide, and no family near or far dared to form a marriage alliance with hers. After three or four years, Ercheng gradually grew up, and Shenshi first arranged a wife for him. Ercheng's wife, named Zanggu, was extremely arrogant and ferocious, utterly unreasonable, and even more formidable than Shenshi. If Shenshi showed anger with a stern look, Zanggu would curse viciously. Ercheng was very timid and dared not defend his mother. Thus, Shenshi's authority greatly diminished; she no longer dared to confront Zanggu but instead watched her expression, flattering her with smiles, yet even this could not win her favor. Zanggu made Shenshi work like a maidservant, and Dacheng dared not speak, merely taking his mother's place in tasks such as washing dishes and sweeping the floor. Mother and son often wept face to face in secluded places. Soon, Shenshi fell ill from pent-up sorrow, confined to bed and unable to move; Dacheng had to attend to her every need, including relieving herself and turning over, leaving him sleepless day and night until his eyes were bloodshot. Dacheng asked his brother to take his place, but as soon as Ercheng entered their mother's room, Zanggu called him away. Dacheng then rushed to Old Madam Yu's house, hoping she might come to care for his mother. As soon as he entered, he wept and poured out his woes. Before he finished his lament, Shanhu emerged from behind the curtain. At the sight of her, Dacheng was overcome with shame, fell silent, and tried to leave, but Shanhu blocked the door with both hands. In great distress, Dacheng slipped under her arm and fled home, not daring to tell his mother what had happened. Soon, Old Madam Yu arrived, and Shenshi gladly kept her as a guest. From then on, someone from Old Madam Yu's house came daily, each time bringing many fine foods. Old Madam Yu sent word to her widowed daughter-in-law, saying, "I will not starve here; no need to send more." Yet the household continued to send provisions without cease. Old Madam Yu ate none of it herself, saving it all for the ailing Shenshi, whose condition gradually improved. Old Madam Yu's young grandson, following his mother's orders, also came with delicacies to inquire after Shenshi's health. Shenshi sighed and said, "What a virtuous daughter-in-law! Sister, how did you cultivate such fortune?" Old Madam Yu replied, "Sister, what do you think of the daughter-in-law you drove away?" Shenshi said, "Alas! She is indeed not as bad as the second daughter-in-law! But how could she compare to the virtue of your daughter-in-law?" Old Madam Yu said, "When that daughter-in-law was here, you knew not what toil meant; when you raged, she bore no grudge. Such a fine daughter-in-law—how can she be deemed inferior?" Shenshi then wept, confessed her regret, and asked, "Has Shanhu remarried?" Old Madam Yu replied, "I do not know; let me go and inquire."
After several more days, Shen's illness had fully recovered, and Old Lady Yu prepared to take her leave. Shen wept and said, "I fear that once you leave, sister, I will still be unable to escape death." Old Lady Yu then discussed with Dacheng to separate their household from Ercheng's. When Ercheng informed Zanggu of the division, she was displeased and spoke foul words to Dacheng, even cursing Old Lady Yu in the process. Dacheng was willing to give all the fine fields to Ercheng, which finally pleased Zanggu and she agreed. After the partition documents were completed, Old Lady Yu returned home. The next day, she sent a carriage to fetch Shen. Upon arriving, Shen first requested to see her nephew's wife and lavishly praised her virtue. Old Lady Yu said, "Even if the young woman is perfect in a hundred ways, can she truly have not a single flaw? I am certainly able to tolerate it. But if you had a daughter-in-law like mine, I fear you would not enjoy such good fortune." Shen replied, "Alas, how unjust! You speak of me as if I were wood, stone, a wild deer, or a mountain boar! I too have a mouth and a nose—do you think I cannot distinguish fragrance from stench?" Old Lady Yu said, "The coral you drove from your home—I wonder what she says of you now when she thinks of you?" Shen said, "She must be cursing me." Old Lady Yu said, "Reflect well upon yourself: if there is nothing to curse, why would she curse you?" Shen said, "Flaws are common to all; it is only because she is not virtuous that I know she will curse me." Old Lady Yu said, "One who does not resent what should be resented—her virtue can thus be known; one who does not leave when she should leave—her comfort to others can thus be understood. The one who recently sent you food to honor you was not my daughter-in-law, but your own daughter-in-law, Coral." Shen asked in astonishment, "How can this be?" Old Lady Yu replied, "Coral has been living here for a long time. All the food she sent you was bought with money she earned by spinning at night." Upon hearing this, Shen's tears fell like a broken string of pearls, streaming down, and she said, "What face do I have left to see my daughter-in-law!" Old Lady Yu then called for Coral. Coral came out with tears in her eyes, knelt down, and prostrated herself. Shen was overcome with shame and struck herself fiercely; Old Lady Yu tried her utmost to stop her, and only then did she cease. Thus, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were reconciled as before.
After more than ten days, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law returned home together, possessing only a few thin acres of land, insufficient to sustain their livelihood, relying solely on Dacheng's earnings from selling his writings and Coral's needlework to supplement their income. Although Ercheng's household was quite wealthy, Dacheng never sought help from him, nor did Ercheng look after his elder brother. Zanggu, because her sister-in-law had once been divorced, looked down upon her, and Coral, detesting her ferocity, also disdained to pay her any heed. The two brothers lived separated by a courtyard wall, and Zanggu would from time to time pour out abusive curses, but Dacheng's family merely covered their ears and paid no attention. Finding no outlet for her tyranny, Zanggu turned to mistreating her husband and maidservant. One day, the maidservant, unable to bear the torment, hanged herself. The maidservant's father then brought a lawsuit against Zanggu at the yamen. Ercheng appeared in court on his wife's behalf and suffered many beatings, yet the yamen still summoned Zanggu to stand trial. Dacheng exerted himself to bribe and plead on their behalf, hoping to secure their acquittal, but in the end, they could not escape punishment. Zanggu was subjected to the cruel torture of finger-squeezing, and the flesh from all ten fingers was stripped away. The magistrate was exceedingly greedy and brutal, seeking to extort a large sum of money. Ercheng had no choice but to mortgage his land to raise the funds and hand them over to the magistrate, who then released them. However, the creditors pressed Ercheng daily for repayment, and driven to desperation, he decided to sell all his good fields to Old Man Ren of the village. But Old Man Ren, knowing that half of these fields had been ceded to Ercheng by Dacheng, insisted that Dacheng sign the deed. When Dacheng arrived at Ren's house, suddenly Old Man Ren spoke urgently to himself, saying, "I am the Provincial Graduate An. Who is this Old Man Ren, that he dares to buy my property!" Then, looking at Dacheng, he said, "The underworld is moved by the filial piety of you and your wife, so I have been granted a temporary return to see you." Dacheng, weeping, said, "Father, if your spirit is aware, quickly save my younger brother!" The reply came, "These two unfilial sons and that shrewish woman—death would not be a pity for them! Go home at once and raise money to redeem my hard-earned property." Dacheng said, "My mother and I barely scrape by; where would we find so much money?" The answer was, "Silver is buried beneath the purple brier tree; you may dig it up and use it." Dacheng wished to ask more, but Old Man Ren fell silent. After a while, he awoke, utterly unaware of what had just been said. Dacheng returned home and told his mother of this matter, but Madam Shen was not entirely convinced. When Zanggu heard of it, she had already led people to dig for the silver vault. They dug four or five feet into the ground, finding only bricks and stones, with no silver as the Provincial Graduate An had mentioned, and left in disappointment. When Dacheng learned that Zanggu had already gone to dig for the silver, he warned his mother and wife not to go and see. Later, knowing they had found nothing, Madam Shen secretly went to look, but saw only bricks and stones mixed in the earth, and so returned.
When Coral came to the tree, she saw that the earth was filled with gleaming white silver, so she called Dacheng to examine it together, and indeed it was genuine silver. Dacheng, believing this to be their father's legacy and unwilling to keep it all for himself, summoned Ercheng to share it equally. The amount of silver happened to divide into two equal portions, and each brother carried his share home in a sack. When Ercheng and Zanggu examined the silver together and opened the sack, they saw only tiles and stones, and were greatly startled. Zanggu suspected that Ercheng had been deceived by his elder brother, so she sent Ercheng to spy on his brother's affairs. Ercheng went and saw his elder brother placing the silver on the table, celebrating with their mother. Ercheng then told his elder brother the truth of his own situation, and Dacheng was also astonished, feeling deep sympathy for his younger brother, so he gave all his own silver to Ercheng. Ercheng then returned home joyfully, paid off all his debts to the creditor, and felt very grateful to his brother. Zanggu said, "This only shows your brother's cunning; if he had no guilt in his heart, who would willingly give away what had already come into his hands?" Ercheng was half-convinced and half-doubtful. The next day, the creditor sent a servant to Ercheng's house, saying that the silver Ercheng had repaid was all counterfeit, and threatened to take Ercheng to the authorities. Ercheng and his wife turned pale with fear. Zanggu said, "See! I told you your brother would not be so kind to you; he means to ruin you." Ercheng, terrified, went to beg the creditor, but the creditor was furious and would not relent. Ercheng then handed over the land deed to the creditor, allowing him to sell the land, and thus retrieved the original silver. Returning home, Ercheng examined the silver closely; among it were two ingots that had been cut open, with only a thin layer of silver as thin as a leek leaf on the outside, while the inside was all copper. Zanggu then discussed with Ercheng, deciding to keep the cut ingots and return the rest to Dacheng, to see what he would do. Moreover, Zanggu instructed Ercheng to say, "I have been repeatedly favored by my brother's kindness in giving me silver, and as a younger brother, I cannot bear it. I will keep only these two ingots as a token of my brother's generous grace. Now the remaining land I have is still equal to my brother's, and I do not want the extra land; since I have already abandoned it, whether to redeem it or not is entirely up to my elder brother." Dacheng did not understand his intention and insisted on giving it to him, but Ercheng firmly refused, so Dacheng had to accept it. Dacheng weighed the silver and found it short by over five taels, so he had Coral pawn her jewelry to make up the amount, then took it to the creditor. The creditor, suspecting it was still the same counterfeit silver, cut it open with scissors to test it, found it to be of fine quality without any flaw, so he accepted the silver and returned the land deed to Dacheng.
After Ercheng returned the silver to his elder brother, he thought that his brother would surely encounter trouble, but when he heard that his brother had already redeemed the land, he could not help but find it very strange. Zanggu suspected that when they had previously dug up the silver cellar, Dacheng had hidden the real silver first, so she angrily went to Dacheng's house and harshly scolded him and his wife. Only then did Dacheng understand why Ercheng had returned the silver to him. Shanhu smiled and stepped forward, saying, "The land has already been redeemed, so what is there to be angry about!" She then had Dacheng hand over the land deed to Zanggu and her husband. One night, Ercheng dreamed that his father rebuked him, saying, "You are unfilial to your parents and disrespectful to your elder brother; you are not far from death. Not an inch of land is yours, so why do you stubbornly cling to that land!" Ercheng woke up in fright and told Zanggu, intending to return the land to his elder brother, but Zanggu mocked him for being too foolish. At that time, Ercheng had two sons, the elder seven years old and the younger three. Soon after, the elder son died of smallpox. Zanggu then became frightened and had Ercheng return the land deed to his brother, but after several attempts, Dacheng refused to accept it. Not long after, the second son also died. Zanggu grew even more terrified and personally went to place the land deed in her sister-in-law's room. As spring passed, the fields lay fallow and unplowed. Dacheng had no choice but to take over and cultivate them. From then on, Zanggu changed her former behavior, paying respects to her mother-in-law every morning and evening like a filial daughter-in-law, and treating her sister-in-law Shanhu with great respect. Within less than half a year, Shenshi died of illness. Zanggu wept bitterly, even refusing food and drink. She said to others, "My mother-in-law died so early, preventing me from fulfilling my filial duties; this is Heaven not giving me a chance to atone for my sins!" Zanggu later gave birth to ten children, but none survived to adulthood, so she had to adopt one of Dacheng's sons as her own. As for Dacheng and his wife, they both lived to a ripe old age. Dacheng and his wife had three sons, two of whom passed the imperial examinations and became officials; people all said this was the good karma of their filial piety toward their mother and brotherly love.
The Chronicler of the Strange remarks: Without suffering the oppression of a tyrannical and overbearing minister, one cannot appreciate the loyalty of a steadfast and devoted subject—this principle holds true for both the family and the state. When the fierce daughter-in-law reformed, yet her mother-in-law died, it was because the entire household honored her, but she lacked the virtue to bear such fortune. Zang Gu reproached herself, saying that Heaven would not allow her to atone for her sins; could such words come from anyone but one who had grasped the truth? Yet, though she deserved an early death, she lived to a ripe old age, showing that Heaven had already forgiven her. The ancients said: Adversity fosters life—how true this is!
Commentary
This is a story deeply concerned with family ethics, carrying a strong moral admonition. Pu Songling also created a vernacular ballad titled "The Tune of Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law" on the same tale, with a preface stating: "An old friend of over twenty years bought a dim-witted maid to delight his loving mother; I merely composed a song of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, using its strings and songs to admonish the inner chambers." The old friend refers to Bi Shengju, and the time was 1702. Whether "Coral" and "The Tune of Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law" were composed simultaneously or one after the other, and if so, which came first, is a matter worthy of deep reflection.
Coral is a representative of the virtuous and filial daughter-in-law in ancient China, who endured adversity with meekness and bore hardships without complaint. Under her influence, her once fierce and shrewish mother-in-law reformed her ways, and the arrogant and rude second daughter-in-law Zang Gu also turned from evil to good. The song "The Tale of the Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law" includes a commentary in the form of "West River Moon," which says: "A filial daughter-in-law has ever been hard to find; a mother-in-law should not treat her lightly. If henceforth a wolf should appear, only then will the former virtue of the elder daughter-in-law be known." This also sets the stage for the story "Coral."
Feng Zhenluan once compared this story to the ancient poem "The Peacock Flies Southeast," remarking: "The old yuefu has a piece titled 'The Peacock Flies Southeast,' written for the wife of Jiao Zhongqing, yet she is far inferior to this woman." In reality, the feudal filial piety in the characters of Coral and An Dacheng often appears inhuman and lacking in luster when compared to "The Peacock Flies Southeast." However, this story excels in its vivid dialogue, such as Wang Shi's righteous criticism of An's mother, Yu Ao's incisive rebuke of An's mother, and Zang Gu's vulgar and calculating remarks, which make the characters come alive as if seen and heard. Dan Minglun praised: "The text's euphemistic and incisive expressions reach perfection, derived from the 'Zuo Zhuan' and 'Strategies of the Warring States.' The more subtle and sincere, the more poignant it becomes, each word a pearl, each word a tear. As I read this, I suddenly found myself weeping uncontrollably, tears streaming down."